Monday, January 03, 2011


TCM's 31 Days of Oscar

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is getting trivial with its annual 31 DAYS OF OSCAR® festival in February. The 2011 edition of the month-long event will feature more than 340 Academy Award®-nominated and winning movies, scheduled in trivia-inspired marathons. In addition, each night will feature a Best Picture Oscar winner at 10 p.m. (ET).

TCM host Robert Osborne, who is also the official biographer of the Academy Awards and the Academy’s red carpet greeter, will host 31 DAYS OF OSCAR, which will mark its 17th year on Turner Classic Movies. The 2011 edition will feature several high-profile films making their debuts on TCM, including three Best Picture winners: Cavalcade (1933), Amadeus (1984) and Forrest Gump (1994). The month also includes the TCM debuts of the blockbusters Pretty Woman (1990) and Thelma & Louise (1991), as well as outstanding dramas like Hugh Hudson’s Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984), Hector Babenco’s Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing (1989) and Michael Mann’s Ali (2001).

Several excellent actress showcases are planned for TCM for the first time, including Janet Gaynor in Street Angel (1928), Loretta Young in The Men in Her Life (1941), Ingrid Bergman in Joan of Arc (1948) and The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958), Marilyn Monroe in Bus Stop (1956), Julie Andrews in Star! (1968) and Cathy Burns in Last Summer (1969). Also, such international classics as Hiroshi Teshigahara’s Woman in the Dunes (1964), Constantine Costa-Gavras’ Z (1969), Jean-Charles Tacchella’s Cousin, Cousine (1975), Jean-Paul Rappeneau’s Cyrano de Bergerac (1990) and Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Three Colors: Red (1994) will come to TCM for the first time.

Among the month’s many interesting marathons are a collection of films starring Jack Nicholson, the most nominated performer of all time; four films that received nominations in all four acting categories; an entire day featuring all ten Best Picture nominees for Hollywood’s Golden Year, 1939, including Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz; a day of romantic comedies on Valentine’s Day; a night of Oscar firsts; a slate of films that earned Best Director nominations but failed to earn Best Picture nods; and a night of films that earned participants posthumous nominations.

The Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2010 will be presented live on Sunday, Feb. 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center® and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.